Alternative for Gasoline

[tweir]

Here is a copy of a short note I sent to a department where I work---and interesting set of data in light of the rising fuel "crisis:

With the price of gasoline rising at an alarming rate; almost 6 cents per gallon in the last three days and well over a dollar per gallon within the last eight months or so; the increased costs just for fuel for our University fleet becomes quite alarming. But these costs go much deeper when looking at the operational costs for running a University vehicle---tires, antifreeze, rubber hoses, glass (yes glass---as the costs for oil increases, the power plants---either oil-fired or natural gas-fired, must pass on those increases to the manufacturing centers and to we, the consumer) and the list goes on. Fuel surcharges, once the domain of the airline industry, has now found its way into the trucking and railroad industries; hence, most if not all shipped goods will reflect these surcharges as well. So, keeping this in mind, I'll make a case for riding bicycles on the campus versus driving a gasoline-powered vehicle within the world of work:




It turns out that "biological engines" -- which is what the muscles in your body are -- are pretty amazing in terms of efficiency. To find out how efficient, let's look at how many calories a person burns while riding a bicycle.
You will find that a person riding a bicycle at 15 miles per hour (24 km per hour) burns 0.049 calories per pound per minute. So a 175-pound (77-kg) person burns 515 calories in an hour, or about 34 calories per mile (about 21 calories per km).

A gallon of gasoline (about 4 liters) contains about 31,000 calories. If a person could drink gasoline, then a person could ride about 912 miles on a gallon of gas (about 360 km per liter). Considering that a normal car gets about 30 miles per gallon, that's pretty impressive! In the case of our gasoline-powered pick up trucks, decrease those "normal car" miles per gallon average to 12 miles per gallon.

To be fair, keep in mind that a car generally weighs a ton or more, while a bicycle weighs only 30 pounds. Cars also travel a lot faster than 15 mph. But it is still an interesting comparison. Note also that people cannot drink gasoline. However, people can drink vegetable oil, which contains nearly the same number of calories per gallon (if you look at How Fats Work you can see that fat contains long hydrogen/carbon chains just like gasoline does). However, the "speed limits" in the parking lots are 15 miles per hour, are they not? Bike patrol...!

The people riding in a race like the Tour de France are riding more like 25 mph. Because air resistance rises very quickly with speed, they are burning about three times more calories -- something like 100 calories per mile. In a 100-mile stage of the tour, a racer might burn something like 8,000 to 10,000 calories in one day! So they are getting only about 300 miles per gallon. 300 miles per gallon versus 12, 15 or even 30....sure makes a very convincing case for "bike patrols"...especially at the 900+ miles per gallon example illustrated in paragraph three!

[Chuck and Carol]

That might work down south. But here in central NY in February with the wind chill in the -20's I don't want to be on a bike.

Carol

[Dave e Victoria]

There was a philosopher by the name of Ivan Illich who proposed that we should limit speeds to no more than that of a bike or a sailboat. He reasoned that all the extra time at work to pay for fuel, payments, maintenance and taxes to build and support the infrastructure required for speed could have been beter spent. In other words, you could have just gotton on the bike and been there. He considered speed an absract value. I remember a quote from one of his books that went something like this. "Values stated in the abstract get reduced to processes that enslave man. The only way out of this serfdom is to act the fool and take responsibility for your actions." So get on your bike and ride, ride, ride.

Note to Carol: You need to plan your trips so you ride with the wind instead of against it. Probably easy advice from someone who lives in AZ.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Yeah but did ya ever try to tow a 5er with a bike?? If so was it a tricycle or a tandem (bike built for 2)???
How does all this work using diesel fuel??

[Dave e Victoria]

Actually, I have a trailer for my recumbent bike that connects about like a fiver. Unfortunately, It can't carry the load that the Cambridge can. Probably just as well or Vikki would have it full. Then I'd have to regear the bike and stick to flat roads. Oh, BTW, it runs on biodiesel -- ie: greasy pizza.